7:31 PM, December 12, 2013

James Jacobs president of Macomb Community College tours the Technical Education Center while chatting with U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, left, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Thurs., December 12, 2013. The U.S. Secretaries are there to celebrate innovative community college training and the grant that Macomb Community College recently received from the federal government. / Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

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Metro Detroit employers are being challenged to hire at least one unemployed, qualified Detroit resident as part of a new campaign to reduce the city’s jobless rate.

HIRE DETROIT! kicked off today and runs through the end of 2014 with the aim of 25,000 people being hired, putting a dent in the city’s more than 16% unemployment rate.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan helped launch the effort before about 200 people at the Northwest Activities Center in Detroit a few hours after talking with students and graduates of workforce training programs at Macomb Community College’s Michigan Technical Education Center in Warren.

The college is the lead recipient of a nearly $25-million federal grant for eight community colleges in Michigan to fund partnerships with businesses to educate and train workers for jobs in demand and buy new equipment for training. That effort aims to bring 2,700 workers to jobs in the next four years.

Perez and Duncan praised Detroit’s “spirit of stick-to-it-ivness” during their daylong visit to promote economic development and skills training as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to enhance local revitalization. They said they were invested in the future of the city and want to make sure Detroiters get jobs.

“What you’re building here, you have the building blocks of success,” Duncan said. “I hope businesses have and will continue to invest in Detroiters.”

The HIRE DETROIT! effort was created by the Detroit Employment Solutions Corp. and involves a multi-tiered partnership between metro Detroit employers, community- and faith-based organizations, and Detroit-based training and employment agencies, according to the DESC’s website. The DESC, part of the Michigan WORKS program, offers job placement and other services.

Sharon Madison, owner of Madison Madison International in Detroit, applauded the hiring campaign. She hopes big companies that come into the city — those that have the capacity to hire young and unemployed people — will do so.

“We’re going to hire some of these people,” said Ishmail Terry, CEO of All Four One, adding that the nonprofit is planning to restore a building on Dexter in Detroit for an adult resource center.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing encouraged area business leaders to “think about hiring people from Detroit. The way we’re gonna bring our city back is to train and employ in areas where there’s growth and opportunity.”

After a tour of the Warren center, Perez said that “whoever said manufacturing is dead hasn’t been to this college, to this region ... Manufacturing is really on a major league comeback.”

During a roundtable discussion, David Share, president of Avon Gear in Shelby Township, said that manufacturing “has lost its luster” and suggested more grassroots efforts to promote manufacturing jobs in middle and high school.

Dave Myles, 48, of Roseville shared his story about losing his union job when the company he worked for closed and how he worked as a casino valet to make ends meet.

His wife told him about a program at the Michigan Technical Education Center that he completed in 2011 and immediately had three job offers. Now, he’s an advanced engineer at Gonzalez Production Systems in Madison Heights.

Unemployed military veteran Adam Bender, 56, of Eastpointe, who is near the end of a training course, chatted with the federal leaders for several minutes.

He said he is hopeful that he will find one of the “quite a few jobs” currently out there when he finishes training.